Horse rescuers have bought nearly two dozen horses from a feedlot in southeastern Nebraska and hope to buy 23 more by Easter to prevent them from being slaughtered.

The horses are what is left of a herd of more than 250, the majority of which were sent to slaughter March 21 by their owner, Gilbert Wolken of Filley.

“When we drove to the feedlot March 20 … I live 150 miles from the feedlot … unbeknownst to us he had it slated for Wednesday (the next day). So, on Wednesday, 200-plus horses were loaded up and shipped out,” said Lin Beaune of Epona Horse Rescue in Kearney.

She estimated the initial cost of purchasing and caring for the remaining horses at somewhere between $20,000 and $40,000.

“Some of these horses are gonna need a lot of vet care … I have two horses at my actual rescue in quarantine and a third I’m going to take there because of medical needs,” she said.

Wolken said Thursday that selling the horses was his intent since he bought them from a number of auctions in November and December. They were kept on his 166 acres of land through the winter.

He wouldn’t release information on the purchaser but said he contacted individual buyers before the sale as well.

“There’s good riding horses in there,” he said.

The rescue workers were able to put a hold on the slaughter of 45 horses, after the trailer that was supposed to pick them up along with the other 200-plus broke down. Twenty-two of those were bought by people who wanted to save them.

To purchase the remaining 23, Beaune and others will need $7,500 by Easter, according to an agreement between Wolken and the horse rescue workers. After that, Epona will need people to adopt the horses and care for them.

The deadline has caused a panic among the horse rescue organizations, as well as concerned private buyers.

“Last week, oh my gosh, I had hives all the time,” said Dawn Pointer, who bought two of the horses. “There (were) so many pretty horses … People should be told not to take their horses to auction.”

She heard about the situation in February but had no specifics. After she determined where the horses were and who owned them on March 19,  Pointer drove to Filley to buy a pair.

“The two that I have in Nebraska City, they were really sick Saturday. They have really bad diarrhea because they’ve been fed on silage,” she said. “Some of (the others) are like skeletons.”

Six pregnant mares were purchased from Wolken within 12 hours of the rescuers finding out about them.

Beaune has two pregnant mares facing veterinary care costs of $800 to $2,000.

“It’s kind of a cross range of body condition,” she said of the rest of the herd. “They’re being fed sufficiently. There is no quote, unquote ‘abuse.’”

Reach Zach Pluhacek at 473-7120 or zpluhacek@journalstar.com.